Gallery to sell John Lennon's Abbey Road suit

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, December 12, 2010

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Auctioneer Kristi Braswell- Pantrese with two outfits worn by John Lennon will be at auction at the Braswell Galleries in Norwalk. On the left is the suit worn on the The Beatles album Abbey Road. On the right is a blazer he wore in his video for the song Imagine. hour photo/matthew vinci

Auctioneer Kristi Braswell- Pantrese with two outfits worn by John Lennon will be at auction at the Braswell Galleries in Norwalk. On the left is the suit worn on the The Beatles album Abbey Road. On the right

A local auction house has acquired several items that once belonged to John Lennon, including the white, two-piece suit the Beatle wore on the album cover of "Abbey Road."

Gary Braswell, co-owner of Braswell Galleries on Muller Avenue in Norwalk, said the cache of Lennon memorabilia will be sold during the company's 24th Annual New Year's Day Auction -- less than a month after fans worldwide mourned the 30th anniversary of Lennon's assassination.

"Having property from the John Lennon estate is a very special event, it's exciting to be a part of it," he said.

The ivory, wool-blend suit was custom-made for Lennon by Ted Lapidus. Braswell Galleries will also be auctioning the blazer Lennon wore in the music video for "Imagine" and the 1972 Chrysler station wagon that he and Yoko Ono used when they lived in New York City. It was registered to Apple Records.

Some gaps exist in the provenance of the suit, Braswell said, but it sold alongside the blazer during a Julien's Auction in 2005. Collector Anthony V. Pugliese paid $120,000 for the pair.

The garments were later auctioned to their current owner -- a "serious collector" from New York City who wished to remain anonymous, Braswell said. A regular customer, he contacted the Norwalk gallery about five months ago.

"He used to tell me he had these suits, and I was kind of like, 'Yeah, right,'" Braswell said. "He started going through economic hardship, like many people, and decided to sell off his collection. These were some of the last pieces he's parting with."

A number of potential buyers have already contacted Braswell, though he could not estimate the amount of a final bid.

"It's a total unknown to me," he said.

Nearly 1,000 items will be auctioned on New Year's Day, including two signed and numbered, nude photographs of Marilyn Monroe taken by Bert Stern; and an autographed piece of multimedia artwork by Damien Hirst.

The public is welcome to preview the auction items beginning Dec. 27. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.